About the Department

Psychology began in the 19th century as the science of mind and behavior. Since then, psychologists have done research in order to gain a scientific understanding of mind and behavior. In April 2001, in order to meet expectations in the real world and to keep up with current academic trends, the Psychology Department revised and expanded its educational system. The present Psychology Department curriculum integrates what has been learned from research in psychology with practical aspects, in order to foster truly excellent students. Using what has been discovered in the field of scientific psychology, we wish to make practical and clinical contributions to many fields. The aim of the Psychology Department curriculum is to connect what students learn in our courses with real world issues. Students can choose classes from four specializations (cognition and information processing, lifespan development, personality and society, and behavior and environment), as well as other topics in psychology. One notable feature of the Psychology Department curriculum is that classes focused on learning empirical methodology are offered at all levels. Students who hope to become mental health counselors or clinical psychologists can acquire basic knowledge and skills through the courses offered in the Psychology Department. However, in order to obtain clinical qualifications, students must study at a graduate school (e.g., the Graduate School of Science for Human Services in our University).

About the graduate schools at Ritsumeikan

Faculty

• Professor

Fuji, Ken'ichi Experimental analysis of behavior, animal psychophysics, psycho-instrumentation Hattori, Masasi Human reasoning, judgment, decision making Higashiyama, Atsuki Space perception, cutaneous sensation Hiroi, Ryoichi Hoshino, Yuji Human memory, cognition, thinking Kitaoka, Akiyoshi Visual illusion, visual completion, motion perception, stereopsis Mochizuki, Akira Applied behavior analysis, human supports and services Oda, Masaomi Cognitive science; concept, imagery, facial expression, interface, etc. Sato, Tatsuya Social psychology, History of psychology Tsuchida, Noriaki Cognitive development, aging Yagi, Yasuki Personality and social psychology, psychology of self Yamamot, Hiroki   Yoshida, Hajime Instruction, development, mathematical thinking, reading and writing

• Associate Professor

Okamoto, Naoko Clinical psychology, psychotherapy, expression therapy (arts therapy) Utsunomiya, Hiroshi Developmental psychology, marital relationship, interparental conflict Yato, Yuko Comparative and developmental psychology, naturalistic observations of infant-caregiver interaction

The psychology department is in the Kinugasa Campus located in the northwest of Kyoto City.

the Approaches to the campus the Kinugasa Campus (PDF)

• Japanese Psychological Association
• Academic Society HomeVillage (NACSIS)
• The Kyoto Shimbun News
• Public transport in Kyoto - Kyoto City Web
• The Kyoto City Tourism & Culture Information System
• kyotokyoto.jp